As our 2020 Disputes Yearbook hits desks, it is an appropriate moment to reflect on how litigation and arbitration evolved through the decade just past. And what a period it was for contentious lawyers. The post-Lehman era caused much turbulence for the British economy and policy makers but proved bountiful for disputes counsel, supplementing the already rich stream of oligarch litigation that was flushing through the London courts with a lucrative line in crisis-related work.
It was a decade hugely changed by the interlocking dynamics of new entrants to the disputes scene and external funding fuel-injecting the claimant side of the market. Large plcs, particularly banks, had until the 2010s been able to strong-arm litigation teams into not acting against them – even attempting to blackball Magic Circle firms on several high-profile occasions. In retrospect the 2008 UK launch of US disputes leader Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, alongside the creation of boutique Enyo Law two years later, were two hugely significant events for the City disputes scene, breaking the deadlock in a market bordering on dysfunctional as other claimant-centric entrants followed.
Throw in the 15-year rise of external funding and baby steps towards group actions – a form of litigation that remains strikingly the exception in City disputes and yet still one with a dramatic impact via a handful of blockbuster cases – and conditions have been near-ideal for litigators and arbitrators.
So ideal that contentious lawyers have gained much ground that had been ceded to transactional colleagues at major firms. The equation has changed in terms of work that ambitious lawyers are pursuing, moving decisively in favour of litigators. It has come to the point where it is hard to see any serious global elite contender lacking a top-tier litigation practice that can cover local law across several key dispute hubs.
Not that everyone shares the spoils. The flood of banking crisis and oligarch work is now a trickle and the market remains solid rather than spectacular. Mid-level work is hardly booming though, as our cover feature on the cases of the year illustrates, a respectable run of marquee disputes is more than enough to keep the top teams busy, and a fair few mid-market rivals as well. Litigation has proved to be consistently a stronger return on investment than transactional work, remaining less hierarchical and rewarding to ambitious firms ready to plan ahead.
With London currently felt to be more than holding its own globally in the post-Brexit era, litigators are looking hopefully to a new generation of claims turning on competition, fraud, cyber incidents and data. The bottom line: the 2020s looks set to be an even better decade for litigators than its predecessor. Just as well we have produced our largest ever yearbook.